When fabricating ophthalmic lenses, prior tools of the above-indicated type are generally used as polishers for polishing or clear-polishing the surface of an ophthalmic lens, or else as an applicator buffer for applying an adhesive film on the surface of the lens in order to protect it against scratching or against being corroded by foreign bodies, for example during "blocking" when a metal block is fixed on one of the faces of the lens by casting a low melting point metal thereon in order to enable the lens subsequently to be mounted on the lens holder of a machine for processing ophthalmic lenses, e.g. a surfacing machine, an edging machine, or a polishing machine. In all of these cases, the buffer of the tool must be capable of fitting closely over the entire surface of the lens against which it is applied. However, given the wide range of radii of curvature in ophthalmic lenses, and given that the surface of an ophthalmic lens may comprise a plurality of different radii of curvature (multi-focus lenses and toric lenses), it has been necessary to have a set of tools available, with each tool being adapted to a given radius of curvature.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a single tool of automatically-adapting shape which is capable of fitting closely over the entire surface of an ophthalmic lens with a substantially uniform application pressure, regardless of the radius of curvature of the lens.